Local News

Caliche field getting new press box

Donation will provide bleachers for school's baseball field

Caliche School will be getting a new press box, as well as bleachers for the baseball field.

The RE-1 Valley Board of Education, Monday, approved contributing $12,000 to replace the press box on the football field. At a special meeting last week, the board tabled approval of the Caliche sports improvement project, involving both the press box and the baseball concessions stand/storage shed, feeling the bid for the project, $35,000, was too high.

Approximately $13,000 has been raised by the Caliche community for the sports improvement project.

Superintendent Dr. Jan DeLay explained they went back and looked at the prices for the press box only, taking the baseball shed off the table for now. The press box is time sensitive; it needs to be in place by the time school starts for football season.

After talking to several contractors and electricians, and getting more bids, the district now believes they can do the project for $12,000 or less. The money will come from either the general fund or the capital improvements fund, depending on final expenditures for Caliche's water project and bleachers.

Principal Doug Stutzman told the board if the cost goes over what is expected, Caliche coaches have raised a little money that can go towards that.

The bid presented last week was a little over $16,000, but Stutzman said a lot of that was labor.

"The bid was high and we knew it was high, but not too many people want to do that, we thought. But it turns out that there were some people out there who we didn't know — they're not general contractors, they're subcontractors — but it's a small enough idea they were willing to give it a shot," he explained.

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DeLay said she appreciates that the $12,000 price includes the demolition, which was originally going to be done by district maintenance people.

The district is still looking into prices for the baseball shed and will bring that back to the board at a later date.

Caliche will also be getting new baseball field bleachers.

Last week, the board approved purchasing one set of bleachers for $11,500, to be used on the football field and then moved to the baseball field when that season starts. After that meeting, DeLay got a phone call from Don Ament, who has offered to donate $10,000 for the school to purchase separate bleachers for the baseball field. The board was very appreciative and will be sending him a letter of thanks.

The board also approved salary schedules after tabling them last month, because of the schedules were adjusted for the Department of Labor changes that may take place Dec. 1. DeLay said even though those changes are tabled, the district does need to adopt a salary schedule.

The approved salary schedule was repurposed to give more information regarding changes to lanes, due to the technology coordinator leaving and an exempt position that now needs to be non-exempt.

"The memorandum of understanding that we now have with KCI, rather than filling that position with a technology coordinator, just warrants the lane that used to be that person no longer exists," DeLay said.

She noted because of the Department of Labor rules the data and technology position will become eligible for overtime now.

"What we're trying to do to avoid overtime with those types of positions is say, come in late and you have to do something in the evening. Sometimes that works, sometimes, especially when it's very busy, it doesn't. But we're keeping an eye on overtime," DeLay said.

The board will look at the salary schedules again in November.

Additionally, they approved the purchase of 64 Dell Desktop CTE (Career and Technical Education) computers from Gertge Technology at a total of $42,240, including the potential for additional shipping costs. Laurie Kjoness, who served as the district's director of technology for the evening, said the Gertge computers are preferred because they have faster processors. She also noted RE-1 will receive a 28 percent vocational reimbursement.

Kjosness also shared tentative plans for RE-1's back-to-school all staff meeting. Travis Allen, an entrepreneur and creator of the iSchool Initiative, will be speaking about bringing technology to students. Kjosness was able to get him at half cost; a grant from Cisco Systems, Inc. will cover the remainder of the cost.

Allen will be doing three breakout sessions for staff during the day and there will also be a community session at the end of the day. Several staff members will be leading other breakout sessions.

Additionally, Grand Canyon University will be providing breakfast for staff and will talk about their new partnership with the district. The online and physical university will provide an opportunity for paraeducators with an associate degree to go back to school and get a bachelor's degree or teachers with a bachelor's degree can get a master's degree, depending on what they need, in a multitude of different areas, but if it's in special education, ELL (English Language Learners), or reading, they will be able to get a discount.

"We're trying to grow our own teachers," Kjosness said.

The partnership is no cost to the district, though she mentioned in the past RE-1 has provided a $500 reimbursement for teachers that go back to further their education.

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